Yakima Nation Land Management Plan for the Arid Lands Ecology Reserve.

At the time of this writing, the Department of Energy was beginning plans to relinquish a large plot of land located partly within the boundaries of the Hanford nuclear site. The land discussed includes parts of the White Bluffs area and links into Rattlesnake Ridge and the Arid Lands Ecology (ALE) Reserve. The Fourteen Confederated Tribes and Bands of the Yakima Nation ceded it to the U.S. Government in the Treaty of 1855. However, the formation of Hanford in 1943 caused the government to impose restrictions on the ability of the Yakima people to exercise rights of cultural land use guaranteed them under the Treaty. When the land was officially set-aside in 1967, it was to act as a buffer zone between the public and the contaminated, toxic areas of Hanford. In considering the history of the land, as well as current wildlife and plant populations, the Yakima Management Plan establishes the ALE Reserve as a cultural and wildlife preserve. This includes re-establishing native plant populations, restricting recreational entry to traditional use, prohibiting big-game hunting except for sacred or ceremonial practices, and promoting educational and research activities through habitat protection and observation. The management plan includes a couple of maps of the area as well as a partial list of culturally significant vascular plants of the ALE Reserve/Rattlesnake Mtn.